


Into the Spider-Verse is About Gentrification

by scratch (thisjustout)



Category: Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, crossposted from tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-24
Updated: 2020-11-24
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:55:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27701684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisjustout/pseuds/scratch
Summary: I’ve watchedInto the Spider-Versemaybe six times, and I’ve come to the conclusion that the film is, first and foremost, about housing politics.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	Into the Spider-Verse is About Gentrification

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don’t endorse this particular framing of gentrification; it’s just fun to converse with stories.
> 
> [Crossposted from Tumblr.](https://psytog.tumblr.com/post/635543071816384512/into-the-spider-verse-is-about-gentrification)

Early in the film is a jab at new high-end businesses opening up in Brooklyn:

The main conflict: A black hole might open under Brooklyn, killing everyone…

  


…at least, everyone in Brooklyn.

  


Before the city is destroyed, it's changed into something unrecognizable *coughfoamparty*.

Enter the Banksy joke, the only other semi-overt reference to gentrification.

Two shots from immediately before and after the collider is turned on:

  


I know nothing about New York so I don't actually know what I'm looking at right now, but to my uneducated eyes, it *seems* like the message is Tall Buildings Bad. (Tall buildings, new buildings, rich buildings, etc.)

The secondary conflict: A bunch of (Spider-)people from different dimensions start showing up in Miles' Brooklyn. The day is saved only after all these people go back to where they came from.

  


“Alternate dimensions” are, of course, just symbols for different neighborhoods/cities/places.

So _Into the Spider-Verse_ is a movie about how gentrification is bad, rich people should stop moving to new cities and warping them with their money, neighborhoods should stay exactly as they are, everyone should stay in their own dimension, etc.

_**Or maybe**_ it’s about a kid who isn't allowed much control over his life, and then he gets to start making real choices and he flourishes. Or it's about people with spider powers who punch bad guys and win. Or animation being the superior medium.

Movies are fun.


End file.
